According to a report, Bhiwandi court in Thane district has directed Congress president Rahul Gandhi to appear on June 12 in connection with the defamation case filed against him by a Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh functionary. During the last hearing in April, the court had deferred to frame charges against Gandhi as he was not present in court.
Rahul Gandhi RSS defamation case: Bhiwandi court in Thane district asks Congress President Rahul Gandhi to appear before it on June 12 in a defamation case filed against him.
— ANI (@ANI) May 2, 2018
RSS activist Rajesh Kunte had filed a defamation case against Gandhi in 2014 after watching Gandhi give a speech on TV in which he accused the RSS of the murder of Mahatma Gandhi.
It was alleged by the RSS activist that the Congress leader had said at a rally during last year’s Lok Sabha poll that a worker of the saffron outfit killed Mahatma Gandhi.
At that time, the Supreme Court had slammed then Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for his remark that RSS is behind the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, while prima facie indicating that he will have to face trial for criminal defamation and prove his innocence.
A Bench, led by Justice Dipak Misra, said it would be entirely up to him to prove on merits that he had made the comments during a poll rally in public good.
We had reported how in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, an aggressive Rahul had made some rather controversial statements. Later during the trial, Rahul Gandhi made a U-Turn. He told the Supreme Court that he did not blame the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on the RSS. He further said his remark had been misinterpreted by the RSS worker who filed the initial complaint against him. His U-Turn came as a rude shock to his social media warriors who had backed Rahul’s decision of not apologising and settling the case. However, it remains to be seen how will his benefactors react to this latest development.
